Knowledge is an ocean and a few drops just aren’t enough. -Unknown

(A thought I wrote down a little while ago, but feel is always relevant…insha’Allah it’s beneficial. Anything incorrect is from my own shortcomings and anything correct is only from Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala)

At ISNA, whenever Shaykh Hamza or Imam Suhaib or any other scholar would compliment and say they were proud of those sisters wearing hijab, I would feel this sense of accomplishment…like a child receiving the approval of his parent or teacher, and he just feels proud of himself (not kibr, but more of an “Alhamdulillah”).And whenever I felt this way, I would just think how miniscule this feeling would be in comparison to receiving the approval of the One, the Magnificent, Allah subhana wa ta’ala…subhan’Allah…the thought of such a moment is unfathomable…and I can only pray to reach that state where Allah, ‘azza wa jal, is pleased with me…insha’Allah…all of us, insha’Allah.

Along with this sense of accomplishment and approval is the other side, the thought and feeling of disappointing someone.My sisters’ halaqah leader gave us this piece of naseehah once for keeping hayaa…whenever we are trying to decide whether or not we should do something, we should ask ourselves “Would I do this if ___ was here?”…she suggested that we fill in the blank with our Shaykh’s name, but I personally would have put “my father” in.It’s unfortunate that we fill in a human’s name—a person who has no power over us…we can’t just remind ourselves that Allah, al Baseer, sees all.

I was listening to a CD in my car by Shaykh Hamza entitled such. It lists the benefits of tribulation as relayed by another scholar. Since I didn’t take note of them, I decided I’d google it. And I found another blog that had it all down. So insha Allah, the blog owner won’t get upset but I borrowed this and slightly tweaked it:

The 17 benefits of tribulation are listed below:

1. You realize the power of Lordship over you.

2. You realize your abject servanthood and your complete state of resignation and brokenness before the will and power of God.

3. Sincerity to God, one has no place of return in putting off or defending against the calamity except to Him. It makes you sincere because the muhsin is the one who calls on God without any shirk. A moment of ikhlas in this world is enough to save a person.

4. He returns to God and suddenly is fervent in his desire of his Lord.

5. It leads to a humbled state before God and it leads to prayers (du’a), that you call on God.

6. Your forebearing towards the One who has afflicted you.

7. You forgive the one who has wronged you.

8. To be patient during the tribulation.

9. To be happy about what’s happening because of those benefits.

10. To be grateful for it.

11. Purification that these calamities have towards peoples’ wrongs and sins.

12. Compassion that God enables you to show to people who are in tribulation and to help them.

13. Tribulation gives you the blessing of having true knowledge of the extent of well-being.

14. God has prepared rewards for the calamities that you’ve beared patiently or with contentment.

15. What is hidden inside the folds of these calamities are blessings.

16. Tribulations prevent you from arrogance.

17. Contentment. Tribulation afflect the good and the evil (people), whoever doesn’t like it, its on Him, he’s lost the dunya and the akhira. Those who are pleased with it, its because he knows it, because paradise is better than anything in this world and if these tribulations are what it takes for him to get to paradise, then he’s content with it.

If something needs to be clarified, I’ll expound on it insha’Allah. I’ll go back and quote Shaykh Hamza or something. So let me know insha’Allah.

Anyways, I thought this was relevant because Allah never gives a soul more than it can bear. And really, we don’t see that every tribulation is a blessing and is something that purifies us. SubhanAllah.

The Prophet*** mentioned that we should have 3 things: a grateful heart, a remembering tongue and a pious spouse.

I know that we all say “Alhamdulillah” and say we are thankful for the countless blessings we have. But I was listening to Shaykh Husain Abdul Sattar and he was saying that part of being thankful is not complaining. For instance, if we miss Fajr, we should understandly be upset but we should realize the blessing in the fact that we even think Fajr is important. We should see the blessing in that Allah permits us to pray as soon as we get up and make up the prayer since we slept through it. We should see the blessing in that we ever desire to pray Fajr and feel bad for missing it.

That’s a powerful statement. To be thankful regardless of what state we’re in. And yes, you may be upset for a valid reason, but Alhamdulillah for the blessings you receive despite it. Who knows? Had you not slept through that Fajr, it may not have strengthened your resolve to wake up the next morning for Fajr. Maybe you wouldn’t have received that urge to become closer to your Lord. Shaykh Hussain said that even Shaytan rushes to wake such a thankful person up for Fajr, lest he miss it and draw nearer to Allah. Shaytan wants us to be frustrated and feel distanced from Allah. But we should be thankful and know that Allah is closer to us than our jugular veins. And once one is a thankful person, more barakah results from that relationship. Allah bestows more blessings upon such a person and raises their rank.

When the Prophet*** was asked by ‘Aisha ** why he was exerting himself so aruduously in worship, when Allah had forgiven any mistakes He may have committed; He responded by saying, “Should I not then love to be a thankful servant?” (Mutaffaqun Alayhi).

Habib Ali al Jifri mentioned once that the greatest ignorance is of your own faults. And when you are able to see your faults you should be thankful that Allah has bestowed upon you knowledge of those faults. Because then you can actually make an effort to correct them. Otherwise, they would be overlooked.

Sometimes we even get upset that things haven’t worked out the way we want them to. But Allahu Alim. Had they worked out that way, it may have been detrimental to our being. We cannot expect that things will always work out our way. We have to have faith in Allah and be thankful for the position He has placed us in.

Insha’ Allah, may He make us grateful servants who have complete faith in His Will. May we learn to embody and understand the aspects of true shukr.

“What! Has anyone attained perfection through books alone? It is simple to understand that one cannot become a carpenter without sitting in the company of a carpenter, one cannot become a tailor without being in the company of a tailor, and one cannot become a calligrapher without being in the company of a calligrapher. In short, one cannot attain perfection or become an expert in something without the companionship of an expert [in that thing]. The companionship of a pious man will induce piety in you. The companionship of an evil man will induce evil in you. He who searches for association with Allah Most High, has to acquire the association of the Noble Friends of Allah (awliya kiram).”

So, I felt extremely ignorant the other night and felt I needed to learn more…in many different topics…so I decided that insha’Allah I will learn something about a different Companion (radiAllahu anhum) of the Prophet (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa salaam) each day, insha’Allah, and I decided to record my learnings here.

Just felt like starting with Ubay ibn Ka’b (ra)…one of my friends named her son Ubay and she always shares one of Ubay’s (ra) stories.

Ubay ibn Ka’b (ra), also known as Abu Mundhir, was one of the four that the Prophet* himself told the people to learn Qur’an from.

He was one of the few who actually committed the Qur’an to writing and had his own mushaf. And was among the first of the people of Yathrib to accept Islam and pledged allegiance to the Prophet* at Aqabah before Hijrah. Ubay (ra) acted as a scribe of the Prophet* writing letters for him and was one of the 25 who had the Qur’an memorized at the time of the demise of the Prophet*. (Random thought: how many of the Muslims in the world today have actually memorized the Qur’an in its entirety in comparison to the percentage of those who memorized it at the time of the Prophet*?)

One day the Prophet* went to Ubay (ra) saying, “O Ubayy ibn Kab! I have been commanded to show or lay open the Qur’an for you.” Knowing that the Prophet’s* commandments only came from Allah swt, Ubay became overjoyed and excited at the thought that Allah swt mentioned him personally. The verses the Prophet* was to lay open the Qur’an for Ubay (ra) were the verses of Surat-al-Fatihah, the Opening of al-Quran-al-Kareem. Ubay (ra) later referred to this moment in which Allah jalla jalaaluh mentioned him by name as his “jannatain” as is mentioned in Surat-ar-Rahman.

And for him who fears to stand before his Lord are two gardens. (Ar-Rahman, 55:46)

Umar (ra) commonly referred to him as the “sayyid of the Muslims” and he came to be known by the title.

Bit incoherent and most certainly doesn’t do him justice…I want to continue, but insha’Allah it is still beneficial. My main source, so you can read some more.

May we be among those who memorize, learn, and understand the words of Allah, swt. May Allah swt increase us in our ranks closer to Him.

May Allah subaha wa ta’ala forgive me for anything incorrect I have written, it is from my own shortcomings, and anything correct and true is from Al-Haqq.

"We have devoted our lives to seeking knowledge of the heart; knowledge that will carry us to our soul’s destination. Your minds have limits but not your hearts, for they are receptacles of endless capacity. But, you must open your hearts to this knowledge, as nothing may pass through what is closed.”

If knowledge can create problems, it is not through ignorance that we can solve them.- Isaac Asimov